[Opinion] The Issues Behind Israel's NGO Law
Professor Gerald Steinberg explains how the proposed NGO law is a response to the demonization of Israel by Israeli NGOs which receive millions of dollars in funding from European governments.
Publications: | Reports, Books, Academic Publications, Submissions, Resource Pages |
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Other Content Types: | Press Releases, In The Media, Presentations, Posts, , Key Issues |
NGOs: | Breaking the Silence (Shovrim Shtika) |
Start date: | 1 Jan 1988 |
End date: | 20 May 2017 |
Professor Gerald Steinberg explains how the proposed NGO law is a response to the demonization of Israel by Israeli NGOs which receive millions of dollars in funding from European governments.
Many of the details that have been published recently about Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, its funding, and activities are incomplete and inaccurate.
Gerald Steinberg argues that the name-calling and propaganda campaigns of NGOs involved in the current debate over foreign funding to Israeli NGOs, with Breaking the Silence at the center, have distracted from the real issue at hand, the funding of NGOs engaged in Israeli democracy by foreign governments.
It has been revealed that Breaking the Silence, an Israeli NGO working to influence democracy in Israel, receives massive amounts of funding from foreign (European) governments.
Aaron Kalman claims that for genuine change to happen, the New Israel Fund must start by asking tough, introspective questions.
NGOs with stated human rights agendas, who are generally extremely vocal regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, have avoided condemning the recent terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, instead focusing only on the Israeli response to such attacks.
As in previous years, NGO Monitor has analyzed the 2014 financial reports of the New Israel Fund, detailing grants provided to a wide variety of Israeli NGOs active in political campaigns against Israel, including BDS, lawfare and demonization.
The 2014 Annual Report of the IHL Secretariat brings to light the fundamental problems with its funding mechanism, including support for political warfare against Israel and very limited focus on alleged violations by Palestinians.